Galleria to add Z Gallerie home furnishings and two local pop-ups

Galleria, meet Z Gallerie.

The luxury shopping center in Edina is welcoming Z Gallerie, a home furnishings retailer, in spring 2018.

The store will occupy a 7,000-square-foot space in Galleria's expansion.

"Z Gallerie provides another unique-to-this-market national tenant," said Wendy Eisenberg, the Galleria's general manager.

With the new home furnishings retailer, 51 percent of Galleria will be devoted to home goods, which gives the center a marked difference from other Twin Cities malls.

"It's amazing to have that much selection under one roof," said Sue Hunter, owner of Home for a Change interior design. "You can hit almost any taste with all those stores."

Besides Z Gallerie, furnishings shoppers can outfit their cocoon at 13 other Galleria stores.

While many perceive the Galleria as a luxury shopping center, Z Gallerie offers a more moderate price point than Design Within Reach, which opened last month. Z Gallerie's prices fall somewhere between Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware, two other Galleria tenants.

"Z Gallerie is glammy, glitzy, and funky like a New York City condo," Hunter said.

In 2009, at the height of the recession, Z Gallerie closed 21 of its 78 stores, including one in Woodbury. Since then, the number of stores has rebounded to about 70.

The Galleria also is adding two locally based pop-up stores, Excelr8 and Ribnick Luxury Outerwear. Both will open mid-November and are expected to remain open through the Super Bowl.

Excelsior-based Excelr8 will carry 11 brands of electric bikes and other bike-related accessories. It will be near Trail Mark in a new space created by the expansion. Store owners plan to open a second location in the Minneapolis area after the pop-up closes.

Ribnick, a family-owned store already operating in the Minneapolis North Loop neighborhood, will feature women's and men's fur, shearling, leather, cashmere and down coats and jackets. It will be located in the spot currently occupied by Roe Wolfe, which is moving into a new expansion spot next month. Roe Wolfe was the Galleria's first pop-up shop.

Store owner Bill Ribnick said he's been considering a trial in the Galleria for some time.

"The Galleria shopper seems to fall in to our type of shopper," he said. "There's a possibility we'll stay there at some point. We'll see how it shakes out."

The Galleria added 20,000 square feet in an expansion precipitated by Barnes & Noble moving to a smaller footprint in a lower level. Four of the 10 new retailers or restaurants are yet to be announced. The restaurant Cov, Soft Surroundings, Roe Wolfe and a relocated Starbucks will be opening mid-November.

John Ewoldt • 612-673-7633